SALT LAKE CITY — A resolution introduced in the Utah State Legislature seeks to unwind a major land deal between the state and federal government inside Bears Ears National Monument.
The sponsor of the resolution, Rep. Casey Snider, R-Paradise, said it's because the Biden administration is advancing a management plan for the monument that makes it hard for the state to do much of anything inside the Bears Ears boundaries. So House Joint Resolution 26 would reverse a deal legislative leaders agreed to last year, swapping School Institutional Trust Lands Administration lands with the U.S. Department of Interior for federal lands elsewhere.
"Unfortunately, again, we’ve reached this threshold where all of us are feeling concerned about the direction the Biden administration’s going in terms of management down there," Rep. Snider told FOX 13 News on Monday. "It’s time for us to pump the brakes a little bit. We can’t be wise stewards of those SITLA parcels and the royalties and other means of receiving revenues that come through those SITLA parcels if we have uncertainty that comes out of D.C."
On Tuesday, Governor Spencer Cox sent a letter to Interior Secretary Deb Haaland, terminating the deal.
"Utah has sought for a collaborative, inclusive approach to managing our public lands, including in the management of the Bears Ears National Monument, yet the Biden administration continues to ignore our good faith input. The federal government has signaled that it once again plans to adopt a restrictive land management plan that will harm recreational access, grazing, and other traditional public uses of these lands. When the administration is prepared to have a serious and good faith collaborative discussion about land management, we stand ready to renew discussions of a land exchange," Gov. Cox, Senate President J. Stuart Adams and House Speaker Mike Schultz said in a joint statement.
The U.S. Department of Interior did not immediately respond to an email seeking comment Monday on the resolution. On Tuesday, the Bureau of Land Management responded after FOX 13 News' initial reporting on the resolution.
"We are disappointed in today’s decision not to proceed with the land exchange to provide productive lands for the State outside of the Bears Ears National Monument, which was a strategic approach to avoiding natural resource conflicts and optimizing revenue for Utah’s schoolchildren for years to come," said Greg Sheehan, Utah State Director of BLM. "Despite the setback, the BLM remains committed to exploring avenues of collaboration with the State of Utah to the benefit of all."
The Bears Ears Intertribal Coalition, which supported the land swap on a federal level, said it was also disappointed in the deal falling apart.
"We believe that it is in the best interest of Utah’s school-age children and the Monument for the land exchange to be accomplished. It is our obligation to our ancestors, to the Bears Ears landscape and its unique resources, and to the American people, to protect Bears Ears, and we remain committed to that goal," the coalition said. "We hope that Utah’s elected officials will reconsider their position and that the state is, as Governor Cox said, 'ready to renew discussions of a land exchange.'"
Rep. Brian King, D-Salt Lake City, the Democratic candidate in the race for Utah governor, accused Gov. Cox and his colleagues in the legislature of "sidelining the interests of ordinary Utahns, prioritizing the exploitation of protected lands for mining while politicizing our public lands."
Bears Ears National Monument has been controversial since its creation. It was designated by then-President Obama in 2016. Two years later, then-President Trump shrunk the boundaries of Bears Ears and Grand Staircase-Escalante National Monument. In 2021, President Biden reinstated the original boundaries.
